The European Commission published new data on the official EU Ecolabel for greener products and services today. It shows that the number of available Ecolabel products across Europe is growing with a major increase over the past two years. The Ecolabel aims to promote products and services that meet high ecological standards throughout their life-cycle in terms of manufacturing, distribution and disposal. In addition, the label helps European consumers to easily distinguish between traditional and green products. It currently covers 26 product groups – such as home and garden, cleaning and clothing products as well as tourist and accommodation services among others.
In line with the Commission’s reporting methodology, these figures are being reported biannually to the EU Ecolabel Helpdesk in March and in September 2018.
These are the key insights:
- Overall, the number of Ecolabel products has grown on average by 32 percent over the last year.
- Among a total of 71,707 Ecolabel products and services in September 2018, the categories of indoor and outdoor paints and varnishes (51 percent), tissue paper (13 percent) as well as copying and graphic paper (6 percent) made up the majority. The share of these labeled products and services was highest in Spain (42,5 percent), Italy (13 percent) and France (7 percent).
- The share of products for which label criteria were newly developed rises quickly: Labeled converted paper (stationary paper) has increased by 258 percent and absorbent hygiene products (diapers) increased by 26 percent.
- Morevoer, the share of labeled goods in the categories of textiles, tissue paper and rinse-off cosmetic products (shampoo) is growing steadily. The label is still widespread within flagship categories such as paper products, paints and detergents.
- From a total of 2,167 different EU Ecolabel licenses in September 2018, the major share was attributed to tourist and accommodation services (34 percent), hard surface cleaning products (14 percent) and tissue paper (8 percent). Most of these licenses were awarded in France (24 percent), Italy (15 percent) and Germany (15 percent).
- Moreover, the Commission is working on a new strategy to expand the Ecolabel to further product groups, such as financial services.
Source: EC and BEUC
More information and Factsheet